The Executive Director of Children’s Services will provide an update in relation to Covid recovery in Children’s Services, where appropriate.
Minutes:
The Executive Director of Children’s
Services advised that Covid infection rates continued to decrease in the lead
up to half term. For Children’s Social
Care, it was very much business as usual.
Ofsted were moving to face to face monitoring visits, rather than
virtual, in the near future.
Schools were examining the impact of
disruption to learning caused by Covid and this was impacting on
workloads.
It was highlighted that there had been a
high number permanent school exclusions, with the period September 2021 to
date, being higher than the whole of the previous year. Attendance and oversight of vulnerable
children (those children with a Social Worker) remained a key priority for the
Council.
The Safeguarding Partnership continued
to implement the challenges outlined in a letter from the DfE entitled ‘Keeping
Children Safe in Winter’ which was about ensuring and
monitoring the re-engagement of vulnerable children in education. It was confirmed that processes were in place
in relation to this and that attendance for vulnerable children was
improving. There was currently no cause
for concern.
As the end of Covid restrictions were
imminent, the Panel was asked whether it was happy to receive Covid recovery
updates at every other meeting, rather than every meeting, unless there was a
particular issue that needed to be reported.
There would be focus on vulnerable children, supporting families, with
locality working being a key part of school readiness. The importance of the Street Wardens engaging
with some of the most disenfranchised young people was immeasurable.
A Panel Member commented that it was
very concerning to hear that there had been more permanent exclusions since
September than in the whole of the previous year. It was acknowledged that keeping these
children safe was a priority but also keeping them educated as they had already
experienced disruption to their education through Covid. It was queried whether there was a profile of
the children who had been excluded and whether there were sufficient staff to
support those children who were not being educated in school places.
The Executive Director advised that
excluded pupils should receive 25 hours of education per week within six days
of exclusion and it was acknowledged that this was putting pressure on the
Council’s approved provision. There were
ongoing conversations to ascertain the reasons why children had been excluded
and why on a permanent basis, rather than fixed term. Schools had many issues to deal with
including the impact of Covid on older children in terms of mental health. Whilst there were pressures in the system,
staff were working hard to ensure children were getting as solid an education
as possible.
Concern was expressed that
those excluded children entitled to 25 hours education provision, were less
likely to engage in this provision and may be falling further behind. The Executive Director assured Members that
those who had been excluded would be provided with an alternative education
provider and not left to drift. It was
acknowledged that some of the children were vulnerable and that an update could
be provided in the future and the most appropriate route for that would be
discussed outside of the meeting.
NOTED